The*kickplate*project: a Kickstarter fundraising campaign

The*kickplate*project, an initiative to bring international art to people and communities who are not considered the target audience of art galleries, has launched a project on Kickstarter, a crowd-funding page, to raise funds for its small non-profit gallery in a Valley’s town, Abertillery, and help organise its third international photo exhibition in September.

Their Kickstarter page can be found here.

For more information, go to the*kickplate*project’s blog, their Facebook page or contact them on Twitter.

Any help and sharing the news about the project will be very much appreciated.

August FORUM - Art Prizes

6.30pm at g39, Oxford St, Cardiff CF24 3DT

For this month's Forum we will be discussing Art Prizes, and will be hearing from artists and selectors. This theme ties in with the current exhibition at g39, the John Gingell Award. 

John Gingell (1935-2007) was a pioneering and passionate artist and arts educator. In accordance with John’s wishes, the Gingell family and g39 developed an award that continued John’s legacy and work as a passionate advocate of art education, by supporting the career development of two artists selected via an open submission process. The family invited g39 to offer curatorial and critical support to Toby Huddlestone and Alan Goulbourne, the recipients of the award, with the intention to significantly develop their practices. The are presenting their resulting bodies of work together for the first time as two exhibitions in g39.

Right of the Land: FORUM and Watermarked

Right of the Land: FORUM and Watermarked:

Check out Becca Thomas's blog post on July's FORUM and her new project Watermarked...

behind her 'I's: a photo exhibition

behind her 'I's is a photographic exhibition in Abertillery, Wales, exploring the themes of women’s image and identity from the perspective of female photographers. 

Women have been creating photography from its very beginning, with famous female photographers such as Anna Atkins (1799-1871), Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879), Tina Modotti (1896-1942), Lee Miller (1907-1977), Diane Arbus (1923-1971), Francesca Woodman (1958-1981), Annie Leibovitz (b.1949) or Nan Goldin (b.1953), to name a few. However, in fine art photography, like in other arts, mainstream media and culture, the prevalent role of women is that of aestheticised muses, often passive or objectified. That gaze is not necessarily exclusive to, or inherent in all art created by male artists, but a dominant canon in the representation of women.

behind her ‘I’s is an exhibition aimed at countering this. We’d like to present artists whose work touches upon the questions of female identity and presents a non-standard look at age, beauty and gender roles.

behind her ‘I’s is the second event organised by the*kickplate*project, an initiative to bring high-quality international art to people who are not the target audience of art. This time we're featuring Marit Beer (Germany), Sophie Berdzenishvili (Georgia), Hanan Kazma (Lebanon), Mariya Kozhanova (Kaliningrad) and Mano Svanidze (Georgia). 

The exhibition is open until the 24th of August 2013, from 10am to 6pm Tuesday to Friday (lunch break between 2 and 4) and from 11 to 6 Saturday, in 26 Church Street, Abertillery, Blaenau Gwent, opposite the Post Office.

July FORUM: 'The Walk'

Becca Thomas and Blair Staff led July's FORUM from Turner House, Penarth over the barrage to the Bay and finished off nicely with chips on Caroline Street.  Here's some highlights in pictures;